FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Growth in euro zone business loans slowed in February for the fourth consecutive month as the economy slowed and banks increased caution, data from the European Central Bank (ECB) showed. ) published on Monday.
Business loan growth rose to 5.7% in February from 6.1% the previous month, while household credit growth also slowed to 3.2% from 3.6%.
These figures are explained by the economic slowdown and some of the fastest rate hikes ever recorded by the ECB. Surveys indicate that the trend is likely to continue in the coming months.
The monthly flow of corporate loans fell in February and stood at -2.6 billion euros, after a slight increase to 1.4 billion euros in January.
The annual growth rate of M3 money supply, which reflects the cash circulating in the euro zone economy, slowed to 2.9% from 3.5%, a figure below the Reuters consensus, which gave it at 3.2%.
(Report Balazs Koranyi, Gaëlle Sheehan, edited by Augustin Turpin and Kate Entringer)
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